


Asset

by Mag7FandF_FanGirl (RannaFic)



Series: Assets and Liabilities [1]
Category: Breakout Kings, Fast & Furious 6 (2013), The Fast and the Furious (2001), The Magnificent Seven (TV)
Genre: Established Relationship, M/M, Minor Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-11
Updated: 2014-04-14
Packaged: 2018-01-19 00:27:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 21
Words: 20,359
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1448605
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RannaFic/pseuds/Mag7FandF_FanGirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>[Takes place after the events of Adjustments and Accommodations and will likely be confusing without reading it first] Sometimes being a toy is an advantage allowing Ezra to close cases that would otherwise be impossible. Team 7 is given a kidnapping case because the victims are toys. Ezra goes undercover and makes a powerful friend and finds an enemy who might be even more powerful. Meanwhile he also has to navigate Maude's response to his new status.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. An Unexpected Meeting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Usually being a toy means you are never alone. Unfortunately for Ezra that is because you are never supposed to be.

A hand clamped down hard on Ezra's wrist and he found himself reaching towards his gun before ruthlessly suppressing the instinct. There was no way he was going to get into an a shooting match with this many civilians around. He looked up hoping against hope that it was simply some overly enthusiastic admirer and found himself looking into the face of almost the last person in the planet he wanted to see in these circumstances, his brother in law Brian O'Conner. Brian was better than his worst case scenario but only barely. Well this was going to be no fun at all.

Brian could not believe that Ezra was sitting by himself, completely unguarded in a Starbucks. At first he was sure he must have stumbled across an operation, though the idea that Chris Larabee would ever put innocents at risk in such a way was hard to swallow. However he searched out the perimeter and it rapidly became clear that Ezra was truly alone. Brian was generally an easy going guy but the idea of Ezra by himself, no backup in sight had him completely livid. He knew that on some level his reaction was completely irrational. Ezra was more than capable of taking care of himself. However there was a part of him that thought of Ezra as his to protect because of their shared history. That part of him could not be reasoned with. While he knew intellectually that Ezra's job involved going into dangerous situation something inside him insisted that Ezra was supposed to have someone on hand nearby and the fact that he knew Chris had given his word that Ezra would never be without an escort again after what had occurred last time did nothing to mollify his instinctive response to the situation. He stalked over to Ezra's table and was even more upset to see Ezra completely oblivious to his approach. For any agent being unaware of his surroundings was a bad idea. For Ezra of all people that level of obliviousness was highly disturbing. Brian grabbed Ezra's wrist hard. He was damn well going to get to the bottom of this.

Ezra could have cursed. He briefly considered spinning a story of a case underway and even found himself beginning to address Brian as if he were a stranger with a polite and disinterested "Yes?" Brian's eyes narrowed "Knock it off Ezra. There's no one around at any decent perimeter distance. Either Chris is completely careless of your safety and is so far away he would be unable to intervene if something should happen, which is vanishingly unlikely, or he's not there at all." Ezra glared "You do realize that I am a highly skilled agent and can hold my own in almost all situations." Brian was not impressed "Regardless of that you are supposed to be protected at all times and anything else is a complete violation of Chris' promise to Dom." Now that Ezra could not allow. He sighed and confessed the truth "Do not blame Mr Larabee. He has no idea I am outside of a secure location." Ezra's voice faltered. "I had previously given my word I would not leave the building without escort and he believes me to be with Agent Gustin for coffee. I imagine you would not be amenable to allowing him to continue to believe my deception."

Brian was not sure whether this was the truth or Ezra attempting to protect his fellow agents. Certainly Ezra would risk his life to protect any member of his team. It was not unbelievable he would lie to protect Chris and his position on his team. "Let's just see shall we? Come!" Ezra followed him without a word. 


	2. Trouble

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team is not happy.

Brian had been unclear whether Ezra's obvious discomfort was faked or not but as they approached the ATF office Ezra looked more and more like he was about to bolt. Finally they turned into the team's work area and Brian wasted no time with pleasantries. He addressed Vin since he was in the first office they came to, "Why the hell did I find Ray by himself in the Starbucks down the street with no-one else around?" Ezra shifted and Brian grabbed his arm, and immediately found himself slammed into a wall. He staggered feeling dizzy and saw the rest of team 7 come piling out of their offices. Ezra seemed initially unable to decide whether or not to flee and then without warning made a break for the stairwell but Larabee's voice rang out "Halt Agent Standish!" Ezra paused clearly undecided but to Brian's surprise Vin spoke next. "It will be OK Ez I promise. Word of a Tanner."

Chris couldn't remember the last time he had been this angry. He could not believe that Ezra had risked so much for any reason. "You have broken your word twice over! You promised you would not be unescorted outside of the building until this situation is resolved. Not to mention giving your word to Dom that you would not do anything to endanger yourself especially not by disobeying me!" Ezra scowled "Really Mr Larabee there is no need for histrionics. The evidence we have so far tends to indicate that even if such a situation was a risk, my safety would be given every consideration." Ezra was being infuriating. His body language completely broadcast 'I don't care' and that on top of what he had done was setting Chris off. As Chris took a deep breath to respond Vin cleared his throat and Chris paused. Something was wrong with this picture. Ezra had just been about to run for it. That did not jibe at all with this perfect picture of unconcern. Then he almost laughed. Ezra was only easy to read when he was play acting. Otherwise he was almost completely opaque, though his team had eventually learned to read his subtle clues well. This little performance meant he cared way too much. Suddenly he had a flash of insight. Ezra had to be terrified that breaking his word really would be too much for Chris. That Chris really would write him off. The knowledge of Ezra's fear was like a bucket of water dowsing the flame of Chris' rage. He found his mind racing as he tried to figure out a way to let Ezra know things would be fine. He wished briefly that he was Buck and could just pull Ezra into a hug. Abruptly he realized that he could say something that let Ezra know he would be willing to forgive him. He sighed "Well at least I can be sure you won't make the same mistake again. Are you still sure Dom won't step in so we can get the rest of the team to listen to me." Ezra gaped at him and then smiled, the shy little boy smile that was rarely seen. "I do believe Chris that you are still stuck with only me listening to you." Buck laughed as the tension dissipated and swept Ezra up into a bear hug that had him squirming. His tone though was serious "Don't do it again Ez." Ezra was just as serious when he responded "I do apologize Buck I will refrain from engaging in such behavior again no matter the circumstances." Nathan was furious "That's all you're doing? He just..." Chris' voice was hard "Enough! He'll answer to me and Dom and that's an end to it."

Brian was amused. The interactions of Ezra's team were always fascinating. However he was not a trained FBI agent for nothing. He turned to Chris "What exactly were you and Ezra talking about there? That reaction cannot be explained just by Ezra breaking a rule." A whisper ran through the team from which he could only make out one word 'collector' but nothing more was forthcoming. Brian turned to Chris who addressed Ezra. "Perhaps Dom is keeping it secret for some reason?" Ezra sighed and looked uncomfortable "Dammit I should have known better than to trust the word of FBI. I should never have promised not to inform Dom myself." Ezra grimmaced "Well this is certainly not going to be pleasant. I am not sure why I was so convinced that he knew. I suppose because it was so ludicrous for them to assume they could get away with it for any length of time. In fact I do owe Dom an apology for how annoyed I was becoming that he had not discussed it with me. However it is impossible to suppose that he would keep such a thing from Brian. If Dom did not tell him then that means that the police are not sending out notifications. The only possible explanation for such an eventuality is that the police are unaware of the situation." Chris growled then turned back to his office "I'll call the police chief myself. You might as well fill Brian in."

Brian could not believe what Ezra was telling him. The idea that someone would be brazen enough to kidnap toys and moreover somehow remain anonymous and undiscovered was unnerving. Turturo had managed to kidnap Ezra but he was extremely well connected, had permission from a family member and had taken Ezra during his trial period, all of which did make a lot of difference. Granted none of the owners of those who had been taken were anything but small time criminals but still it was surprising. They were certainly skirting along the edges of what the council would permit. However a lot of care had been taken to ensure that the toys were demonstrably not hurt during the kidnapping and those taken were either briefly alone or with easily overcome bodyguards who had all escaped any significant injury. The subsequent messages to their owners indicating that they were safe but 'considering other options' proved that they were still alive. Since this indicated that any toys of notable owners would be left alone that would probably keep the council from taking action for now. Only the weaker owners tolerated a contract that did not require mutual agreement to peacefully cancel. Nevertheless the idea that the Feds had been keeping this secret was extremely troublesome. Brian felt sorry for Ezra who was likely to find himself in very hot water. Granted he was not visibly a toy but still the fact that he had known all this and still been wandering around without an escort was not going to go over at all well with Dom.


	3. Mitigating Factors

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time to tell Dom

Brian pulled his car up in front of Dom and Ezra's house slowly as he saw Dom waiting in the driveway. He could tell Dom was completely enraged and it worried him a bit because Ezra had been completely silent and withdrawn in the car. He knew by now such behavior indicated that Ezra was thoroughly convinced that his relationships were collapsing and that was a bad combination with a volatile Dom who lost his sense of proportion when angry. Ezra moved to open the door and Brian halted him "No Ray wait please let me talk to him first." It was not good that Ezra immediately subsided into the chair but at least it accomplished his objective. He stepped out of the car as Dom stalked forward and demanded "Wait!" in no uncertain terms. Dom turned the force of his ire on him and grabbed his shoulders pushing him back hard into the car. Brian wanted to push back but it was just too important to nip this in the bud. "Dom the worst decision of your life was made when you couldn't control your temper and you've hurt Ezra before when you're angry. You have the right to be angry but don't let it completely take over." He knew reminding Dom of his past actions was a low blow but he had to snap him out of it. He saw Dom pause and shake his head a little and then relaxed as the ferocious uncontrolled anger went out of Dom's eyes. He threw in his last ploy. "His whole team was angry and Ezra was clearly afraid that Chris would decide he had had enough of him. Ezra nearly ran from Chris." 

Dom calmed slowly. If Ezra had been that afraid of facing Chris he would be worse if anything with Dom. Chris had never actually abandoned Ezra as Dom pretty much had. He stepped towards the car and opened the door. Ezra's gaze was completely opaque and Dom knew that meant he was terrified. Well he could fix that at least "Get in the house and wait for me!" It was abrupt but it would burst the biggest fear, the one that he was done with Ezra completely. Ezra's whole demeanor lightened and suddenly the misery and fear were clear on his face. "Would it be correct to state that I am in severe trouble now?" Dom nodded and Ezra sighed "I apologize Dominic my actions were indefensible." Then he stepped out of the car and entered the house without another word and Dom knew his ploy had worked. Dom turned to Brian "Ok explain everything that you know." Brian gave him all the details but he realized something while he was explaining things to Dom and immediately informed Dom "None of his team even asked him why he would do such a thing. That does not make sense. I think they know something." Dom growled "Well they better tell me." He immediately phoned up Chris who sighed at the question. His answer was simple "It has to be Maude. Nothing and noone else would have the power to make Ezra break his word to me."

Ezra stretched out on the bed wanting nothing more than to go to sleep. Dom had left after ensuring he was thoroughly punished and Ezra expected he would not be back for a little while since he had uncharacteristically still been angry afterwards. Suddenly the door opened and Dom came in. Ezra looked up, knowing that some trepidation would be clear on his face. He had been certain that Dom was done and was certainly unhappy about the idea of any further punishment. Then he flushed when he saw what Dom was holding. "I .." He swallowed what he was going to say when he saw saw the expression on Dom's face. There was no way he was challenging Dom today. After he had silently dressed in the way too small shorts Dom held out his collar and he also snapped that on. "Would it be asking too much to request a shirt as well?" Dom's voice was a growl "I'm making a point." Ezra subsided at that, though his flush grew stronger. Dom looked him over and then relented. "Fine, but make sure your collar is visible." Ezra settled for the most demure T shirt he could find, a dark grey one with no ornamentation. Dom was amused but allowed it. "So tell me where we go to meet your mother." Ezra supposed he should expected Dom would have talked to someone on the team about what might have precipitated his actions. Either Vin or Chris would have been able to figure out that his mother had to be involved. His mother had not told him where she was staying but he knew her well. It would be one of the best hotels in the city and for him it would not take much to find out which.


	4. Maude

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dom makes his point to Maude.

Dom stalked into the hotel and walked directly up to the desk, Ezra trailing behind him on a leash looking mortified. He regretted that he was embarrassing Ezra but he considered it to important to make it completely clear to Maude that Ezra was his toy and as such dragging him off to do anything unescorted would not be tolerated. He figured she clearly needed the overt, visual reminder of Ezra's status. "What room belongs to Maude Standish?" The clerk looked at him coolly "I'm sorry sir but I'm afraid we don't give out the names of our guests. Or their room numbers." Dom grabbed the clerk's arm "Ezra go find out which room your mother is in." The clerk barely raised his voice "Security" A large man dressed in a business suit stepped out from the office next to the desk and blanched when he saw Dom and Ezra. To Ezra's surprise Dom greeted him with enthusiasm. "Wonderful! A man who knows how things work. I need to meet with my toy's mother since she's decided to challenge my authority over him. I want her room number now. The name is Maude Standish." "Right away Sir." The security guard stepped to the computer and began looking the information up. He also spoke into his walkie talkie. "Stand down, we have a toy in the building. I will be providing escort." Ezra looked at Dom "How did you know that he would be accommodating?" Dom shrugged "These fancy hotels always want ex-cops. For some things you can trust an ex-cop."

Ezra knocked on his mother's door reluctantly. Dom had met Maude at the wedding but she had confined herself to general pleasantries. This was unlikely to go as well. She opened the door and exclaimed "Ezra! What on earth are you wearing?" Then stepped back in surprise when she noted the leash and Dom on the other end of it. "Mr Toretto! What on earth are you doing to my son. I hardly think this is something he would agree to. I never expected you would treat your husband in such a way, particularly in public. It is shameful!" Ezra flushed in embarrassment. So she was going to play the concerned mother card. Dom's gaze was hard "I just have one question. When you convinced Ezra to leave his escort behind did you know that there is someone out there collecting unattended and weakly defended toys?" Maude's response said it all "How dare you suggest such a thing! I've never been more insulted in my life." Ezra's heart sank. He knew his mother and the fact that she had shown no surprise and did not even deny the accusation meant that the answer was yes. He unleashed his anger "How could you Mother? I thought it was egregious enough that you abused our emergency code just to ask for money. Money that you know I no longer possess. The fact that you knew all along that you might be endangering me .." His mother interrupted at that, looking concerned for the first time "No! It wasn't like that! You were not going to get hurt. I was assured that all the toys are treated with the greatest care and respect." Dom stepped forward at that "You were going to deliberately help someone take Sunny from me?" Ezra felt a chill pass through him "You are well aware that I love Dominic, my team, how could you even contemplate..." He stopped and turned away "There is nothing more to be accomplished here. May we depart Dom?" Dom paused "I think we should escort her to Chris don't you? Seems like she's a material witness." Ezra shrugged. For the first time he just did not care. Dom glared at Maude "From now on you don't contact Ezra in any way and you don't talk to Ezra unless you clear it with me first. Do you understand?" Maude protested "He's my son you can't expect ..." Dom interrupted her "Do you understand? There is absolutely nothing I can't do to you to enforce my wishes. If I decide to have you put in jail forever with no charges it will happen." Maude looked shaken "I understand."

Chris had never had a more awkward interrogation. They had all known that Ezra's relationship with his mother was less than ideal but had never thought she would essentially sell him. The only saving grace was that she had actually seen one of the missing toys and received definitive proof that they were well cared for, if not completely happy to be taken. Despite Maude's careful, discrete questioning of the toy and the men who had been in contact with her she had been unable to find out who was ultimately behind the abductions. All she had been able to find out was that the toys were 'being given an opportunity to become more polished'. Maude had no idea why no one had showed up to grab Ezra despite her luring him away from safety. Once they had received all the information they could gather Chris had Maude escorted out of the building with instructions that she was never again to be allowed in without escort from a member of team 7. 

The team had met after Maude's interrogation for discussions. Josiah had been fairly sure that the perpetrators of these abductions must have initially found Ezra from some general search and contacted Maude at that point. However once they had done some more detailed checking on Ezra they must have decided he was too much of a risk. After all his guardians listing showed Ryan Kelly, Brian O'Conner and Neal Caffrey and had them all with occupation set to Federal Agent. JD had logged onto the council's admin website and found several interesting bits of information. First off there had been many searches under the name Ray Toretto, though they of course returned no records. For Ezra Standish there were only two searches and one of them was very interesting because it used some of the advanced features of the database so that if JD had done a normal check on who had searched for the name the search would not have turned up the request. With a little bit of hacking JD had discovered that Ezra's name had initially been pulled through a very complicated search that had essentially picked all the toys who were not owned by prominent criminals. The initial information summary would have shown Maude's name as emergency contact, something that, as JD commented "Was going to change as soon as Ez got his hands on a computer". Chris ordered JD to find out all he could about that final search and JD had tracked down the origin of that search to a Fedex office location somewhere in Texas. Josiah hypothesized that whoever it was had decided that Ezra would be too well protected. There was a long discussion over whether to share the information with the FBI and finally Chris decided to let Orrin make the call. Orrin insisted on reporting their finding to the FBI agents in charge of the 'collector' case. Unfortunately the FBI agents decided that given the information that the toys were not being hurt and that someone was training them their strongest suspect was John Fredrick.


	5. A bit of advice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ezra consults an expert

Lloyd wondered who could be at the door. Normally if Shea was not there his friends would not visit unless they had notified Shea first and he would let Lloyd know to expect them. Vanessa poked her head out of the living room and told him to answer so he opened the door to see, to his delight, Ezra and Dom. "Ezra! It is good to see you. It's been months!" Ezra smiled "Unfortunately this is not a social call but yes we must get together for such a purpose soon." Vanessa came out to see the visitors. Vanessa was still not completely comfortable with law enforcement, not even the members of team 7. However she liked Dom and was of course always polite to Ezra "Perhaps you should state your business then. Come and sit down in the living room and we will talk." Ezra flushed and muttered that he would prefer to stand and Lloyd was startled and then angry "I thought Dom was going to refrain from corporal punishment baring you doing something blatantly idiotic" Dom's voice was amused but when Lloyd glanced at him he seemed pleased at Lloyd's challenge. "Ezra did in fact manage to do something idiotic and in part that is what we are here about. Have you heard anything about a man collecting toys?"

After the full explanation Vanessa and Lloyd exchanged glances and she simply observed dryly "If the owners were engaging in neglect or abuse it might just be possible but in such cases Fredrick would have turned them over to the council as soon as possible. Given what you describe he is not a plausible suspect." Lloyd was also adamant "It does not even make sense if he was doing such a thing he would want to train the toys himself. How exactly is he supposed to be smuggling toys into a prison?" Ezra practically growled "I have informed the imbeciles at the FBI that they are off base but they refuse to listen and it is simply not safe to allow them to spy on him. I am taking over the job simply to insure nothing untoward occurs." Lloyd was mollified but felt he needed to point out something. "Yes but ... Ezra you are a toy." Ezra looked puzzled "It is not likely that he would attempt to purloin me if he found out I was owned and we have permission to insert a new identity for me into the database so..." "No. I meant ..." Lloyd did not know how to explain. "Fredrick will sense your capacity to submit, something I imagine you intend to use to get close to him, but if you try and lie to him..." Ezra interrupted at that "I know he would take it badly and the whole point of me doing this is to prevent Fredrick being upset. I have done something much like this before. I will not tell any direct lies." Lloyd sighed "You are not understanding. It is more than that. You will likely find yourself even less able to deceive him than Dom. His personality is even more forceful than Dom's is and you know that is a strong statement. It is not attractiveness, though he has that. His opinion of you will matter and that is not conducive to being undercover observing him." Dom interjected "My understanding is that Ezra will be perfectly safe in Fredrick's prison, even more so if he comes under Fredrick's eye. Are you disputing that?" Lloyd shook his head "No but .." Dom shrugged "Then anything else we can work out." Lloyd sighed he was sure it was not going to go smoothly but at least Ezra would be completely safe from harm.


	6. Fredrick meets a new toy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ezra meets Fredrick. It does not go exactly as planned

John Fredrick loved this part of his 'job', evaluating the new arrivals and seeing who had real promise. His men were now competent enough to gather all the possibles without exception, since he had made it clear that he would rather sort through 100 to find that elusive 1 than have them bring him only 50 and miss out on an opportunity. He could dismiss half of these men with a glance and indicated as much to his trainers. The twenty remaining men were intriguing but after talking to them only two had real potential for him, though he passed on three others to his junior trainers. They would not carry his tattoo but they would be good investments nonetheless. Finally he had the two remaining men kneeling before him. Both of them exceptionally beautiful specimens. The first one a stunning red haired, green eyed beauty was a clear winner, after only 5 minutes of his interview he passed him off to his men to take back to one of his cells. The second man, blonde with clear blue eyes was a bit of a puzzle. He did not kneel as readily as the first but there was something .. finally he went with one of the hunches that had made him so successful and asked a basic question, one which he never bothered with because after all he had the complete files on all these men. "What's your name?" The man sighed and sat back on his heels suddenly. "Oh great ... Chris is really going to kill me. That is what transpires when you ignore the advice of your own experts." He looked up and locked eyes with Fredrick "Agent Ezra Standish, ATF. Currently on loan to the FBI"

Fredrick could not believe it. He had thought that his agreement with the warden and with the various authorities far above him was ironclad but if they were now sending in agents to spy on him he would need to rethink a lot of things. He was not sure who had authorized this but he would damn we'll find out and make them regret their decision. He grabbed the agent's arm and pulled him up and then twisted, slamming him into the wall, perhaps harder than he had intended since the anticipated resistance did not materialize. "Tell me what this is about. Now!" There was a sigh "The FBI insisted that you were a suspect despite my protestations to the contrary. When they proved completely intransigent my team insisted that I be the one to implement the surveillance on you since we did not trust the FBI undercover agents with such a delicate and potentially explosive investigation. I truly do apologize for the inconvenience, but it was the best that we could accomplish given the sensitivity of transgressing in any way on your quite amazingly robust agreements. I suppose it would be too much to ask that you could definitively show that neither you nor any of you agents were anywhere near San Diego around the 15th of last month." Fredrick found himself amused by the sheer audacity, "As it happens I could prove that but first we shall need to deal with you" He stepped back from the man and pulled off his belt intending to use it to fasten the agent's hands and to his surprise the man gasped "No Sir, please." and dropped immediately back to his knees in a motion too fast to be anything but instinctive. Fredrick paused, those reactions, he would swear that he was dealing with a toy, mostly untrained but still. Suddenly he wondered if the clearly oh so smart FBI man was playing him, trying to manipulate his reactions. In anger he struck out viciously as only he could. He grabbed the man's hair, tilted his face up towards him, and said with all the sincerity he could muster "I don't know what I was thinking picking you out. It would take a ridiculous amount of work to turn you into a toy able to carry the name of Fredrick's. My toys need to embody value and quality. In fact I think it would be impossible to make you worth anything. Most owners would be ashamed to have someone of such a low caliber who would be nothing but awkward and disobedient." He expected a sharp retort but instead the agent paled completely and flinched back as if struck. 

Before meeting Fredrick Ezra would never have imagined that someone he did not know could affect his equilibrium so strongly. Lloyd had warned him that Fredrick could be overwhelming but Ezra had discounted it. However after meeting Fredrick if anything Lloyd had been guilty of an understatement. Ezra had found that while he did not experience a strong physical attraction the way he did with Dom, as Lloyd had warned, he did profoundly feel the need to gain Fredrick's approval. When Fredrick essentially described him as worthless he felt utterly rejected. He pulled away, hoping to compose himself as, to his horror, he felt tears forming. "I apologize again for inflicting my person on you I .." He dropped his head trying to regain control but to his surprise Fredrick dropped to his knees in front of him and this time when he turned Ezra to face him his hands were gentle. "I'm sorry little one, I lost my temper. I thought you were trying to manipulate me. I did not mean that I swear to you. I was trying to hurt you. I should have trusted my own instincts better. I can tell from your reaction you do have an owner. I promise you he is proud to have someone so brave and beautiful." Ezra looked back at him only somewhat mollified. His voice was full of challenge "You said I was awkward and disobedient." Fredrick smiled at him "And I am willing to bet you are disobedient on occasion correct? Though just enough to be a challenge. I suspect you would need a special owner to handle someone with your strength. As for awkwardness that is not something most owners care about one way or another and in any case is easily overcome with training if you would care to do so." Then Fredrick grinned "I presume your owner knows you're here?" Ezra laughed and then shivered. "Oh yes. I learned that lesson very thoroughly a while ago. He was not thrilled at the prospect but he did agree that I would be perfectly safe in your prison. No one would dare come near me until I was vetted by you and he was absolutely certain you would pick me out because..." Ezra paused how could he put this delicately. Fredrick waved it away "I would see your potential let us say." Suddenly Fredrick's eyes were penetrating "So Ezra tell me everything about this case you are investigating."


	7. A Test

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chris meets Fredrick

Chris' cell rang and he picked it up eagerly. He had been waiting to hear back from Ezra since he disappeared into the prison this morning and had extracted a solemn promise that he would call the same day. He hated being in a situation where he could not access one of his team. He was careful when answering the phone not to bark out his usual Larabee but he felt his blood turn to ice when the voice on the other end of the phone was the cultured tones of John Fredrick. "I believe I have something which belongs to you Mr Larabee. Or well I suppose it is more accurate to say works for you." Chris tried to maintain his calm but he knew his voice betrayed his anger when he responded "If you hurt him I promise you will regret it!" Fredrick's voice was cool "I regret to inform you I already have. You have permission to visit me. Mr Toretto has also already been informed and will also be escorted in to see me. Your team may come but they must remain outside for now." Then the phone was hung up with a click. Chris took a deep breath. He didn't care how well connected Fredrick was. No one touched his team.

Chris walked towards Fredrick's office, making a great effort to control his irritation and fear over the whole situation. Who was it who gave an office to a prisoner anyway? He opened the door as the guard who was his escort stepped to the side and stood there clearly protecting the door. He saw Fredrick sitting behind a desk and two men flanking it. One must be a bodyguard from his size and the other was the Warden who he recognized from their briefing. However Ezra was not visible. As he walked forward he could see partially behind the desk and to his consternation recognized Ezra kneeling quietly head down beside Fredrick. He paused at the sight and saw Ezra glance up at him quickly. Then to his astonishment Ezra's eyes widened and he stood up and blatantly positioned himself in front of Fredrick. Chris reflected that this was becoming a bad habit. Fredrick started laughing and then waved his hand at the bodyguard. "Stand down. Well Mr Larabee I am suitably impressed. I believe I have learned enough of Ezra to interpret such a protective reaction. Please tell me how you managed to get a weapon past the guards." Chris shrugged "Since I'm not a prisoner they were not going to strip search me and Ezra has pointed out on previous occasions that there is one location where men generally tend not to be quite as thorough." Fredrick laughed again but the Warden stepped forward clearly furious "How dare you bring a weapon into my prison without my knowledge or permission far less here! Do you have any idea of the trouble you would be in if anything should happen to Mr Fredrick?" Fredrick interrupted "Thank you for the defense Warden. I think going forward we will institute a final search by one of my gentlemen but I will forgive you for not expecting such innovative and aggressive behavior from one of my guests." 

Fredrick pushed gently on Ezra urging him down again but Chris was amused to see Ezra shrugged him off. "Ezra!" the command was sharp but ignored and this time Chris began to laugh finally relaxing and pulled out the hidden gun dropping it to the floor. "I'm glad I'm not the only one who has trouble getting his cooperation. Well I don't know what you did to gain his compliance but he's not seriously hurt or he would not be ignoring you right now." His eyes roved over Ezra looking for any sign of injury. He noted that Ezra was now wearing visible collar and cuffs in Fredrick's distinctive pattern. That was confusing since no matter what Fredrick's connections he doubted Dom would give up Ezra. Not to mention what Ezra himself would have to say about it. What he was primarily concerned with however was determining how Ezra was hurt. He ultimately decided the direct approach was best "Ezra, where are you hurt?" Ezra looked confused and then suddenly angry turning to Fredrick "Just what exactly was the content of that private conversation? You can't have said .. are you completely insane! Mr Larabee doesn't take any threat to his men lightly he.." "Enough!" the command in Fredrick's voice could not be ignored this time and Ezra subsided and dropped back to his knees though even Chris could see it was under extreme protest. Fredrick ruffled Ezra's hair. Then he motioned for both the Warden and his bodyguard to leave though both objected quite strenuously. Finally he turned back to Chris "I can only indulge him so much you understand. Particularly when others are present." 

Fredrick sat back "I noticed you examining him for injury. Good enough in it's own way." Then he looked suddenly scornful. "However surely you are not so naive to believe all hurt is physical?" Chris was stung "No but I'd be hard pressed to understand how a complete stranger could hurt him any other way. I don't believe you intended me to imagine anything other than physical damage either." Fredrick smiled and Chris found himself to his astonishment warming to the man. "No indeed. I wished to test your protective instincts Mr Larabee." Chris saw Ezra start and glance up at Fredrick at that, clearly annoyed, but his eyes dropped back down before Fredrick could glance his way. It didn't seem to matter though. Fredrick cuffed the back of his head lightly in clear reprimand. Then he laughed again "Surely Lloyd commented on my protective instincts? However you Mr Larabee did you not sit in on Ezra's debrief with Lloyd?" Chris was worried. He was not sure whether or not Lloyd would get in trouble for consulting with them so he tried to bluff "I'm not sure what you're talking about. Lloyd who?" Fredrick smiled widely "Well, now that really is impressive. Surely you would imagine that Lloyd would mention Ezra to me, though now I no longer have to wonder why he never gave his last name or occupation. Do not worry I have no objections in this case so Lloyd is not in any trouble. Ezra intended me no harm and Lloyd would be aware of that. Indeed given both Ezra's status and nature he could not intend any malice towards me. Though I am surprised that Lloyd did not warn your Agent Standish the effects my presence would be likely to cause." Ezra did nothing that Chris could see but Fredrick turned towards him. "Oh so he did then? Perhaps next time you will believe him?" Chris interrupted then "Lloyd said it would be extremely inadvisable to lie so I imagine Ezra was forced into a situation where he had to lie to you or come clean. However that does not explain how you hurt him." At that Fredrick looked both embarrassed and saddened. "I regret that I thought Ezra was simply an FBI agent manipulating me and well... I said some things intending only to prick his pride. Unfortunately since he is in fact a toy, it had more of an effect than I intended ..." Fredrick paused and chose his words with care "To someone capable of being a toy, particular one already owned what I said would be, rejection, an impression that they were ... unworthy of my or indeed any attention. For such individuals to be in my presence is to seek my approval ... therefore he was deeply hurt."

Chris was abruptly furious "Someone with your ability to see such things should have known that you would ..." He cut himself off quickly "I apologize. It is just that Ezra would be particularly sensitive to that kind of rejection." Fredrick again looked sad. "I have given him my signature bands in partial payment for the hurt, though it sounds as though I will owe more than that. I will discuss with his owner what I owe when he arrives."


	8. An apology

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dom meets Fredrick

Dom had initially not been concerned when the call came from the Warden that Fredrick had requested his presence. However he did become alarmed when he found himself being essentially smuggled into the prison by the Warden and the careful way the man checked to ensure no one saw him on the way to Fredrick's office had his internal alarms ringing. He walked in to see Fredrick alone in the office with Ezra standing beside him. As soon as the door closed Ezra dropped to his knees and began apologizing profusely "I apologize Dominic. I fear that I ignored Lloyd's warnings about the compelling nature of John's presence and therefore was forced into a situation where I had to disclose my identity and purpose. My recent experiences encountering criminals in your circle has certainly opened my eyes to the ideas I had previously discounted regarding the concept of criminals with charisma." Dom's eyes narrowed. Ezra was hiding something he could always tell. Usually this much discourse was a way to hide injury but he could not imagine Fredrick injuring a potential toy under any circumstances. Ezra looked perfectly fine but there was something ... he focused suddenly on Ezra's neck his collar was turned up but Ezra never ever wore it that way which meant he was hiding something. He reached for the collar and smoothed it down and there on Ezra's neck was one of Fredrick's signature collars.

Ezra tackled Dom away from Fredrick as hard as he could, managing to push him a few feet away. Dom had decked the man with one signature right hook but certainly looked prepared to follow up. He found himself angry as well. Surely Dom could not possibly think he had voided their contract and given it to Fredrick? He articulated his concern rather than suppressing it, something he had been trying to work on. "Dominic this is not due to some sudden and overwhelming attack of jealously is it because if you could think that I ..." to his surprise Fredrick cut him short pushing himself up from the floor as he talked "No little one everyone knows my collars go on toys I have trained and that I don't own any. He is reacting to the fact that if I have taken you under my wing without having trained you the only possible explanation is that I am trying to compensate for having hurt you." "And hurt him badly at that" came Dom's growl at he moved forward again. Ezra was not sure what to do. The possible repercussions for attacking Fredrick in his own office were huge but he couldn't hold off Dom. Dom proved his musings correct in seconds. A quick grab pinning Ezra to Dom's chest and then Ezra's hands were trapped together behind his back in one of Dom's hand. Ezra's options were immediately extremely limited. He could kick but he really didn't want to try that on Dom unless there were absolutely no other options. However every muscle in Dom's body was tight which meant he was furious. He sighed but before he could follow through and try anything Fredrick slapped his hand sharply on his desk and his bodyguard entered the room.

Dom growled in frustration. He wanted to pound on Fredrick again but there was no way to accomplish that with the giant man who was no doubt Fredrick's bodyguard present. At least not without a huge fight that would distress and even possibly endanger Ezra. He forced himself to calm and turned to Fredrick "What did you do to him that warrants such a large favor as extending him your protection?" After Fredrick's explanation Dom sighed. He sat down and pulled Ezra into his lap turning him so that he could see the truth in Dom's eyes "You listen to me. I love you, I want you. You're perfect for me just exactly the way you are ok. You don't need to be any kind of better." Ezra glanced away at his words. "You were initially not interested in a man except as a toy and I barely qualify. I am not .." Fredrick interjected at that "Mr Toretto I believe I can fix your toy's feelings of inferiority and advance his case at the same time. If you are interested?"


	9. A Fredrick's Reject

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fredrick's training fails

There had been much discussion around the prison about one of Fredrick's latest trainees. Fredrick's guards never discussed his methods or their jobs very much but what few comments they had dropped suggested that this one was particularly interesting. Some discussions by the guards indicated that the man in question was only in for 6 months. That was far less than Fredrick's usual training program required and if he got paroled early who could say how short his stay would be. For once there were even bets on whether Fredrick would be able to train him given the time available.

Fredrick generally sequestered his toys in training for months before they were allowed out in the general population but after only three weeks he appeared with his new acquisition striding along gracefully on a leash. The toy was beautiful, his shoulder length wavy blond locks attracting many sidelong looks from the prisoners. Fredrick was holding court in the gym when one of the guards brought him word that the Warden wanted to introduce a new prospective client. The warden came in with an older gentlemen, obviously wealthy by both his clothes and bearing. The other prisoners could not hear the discussion but they certainly saw the outcome. As Fredrick moved to hand the leash to the client the toy pulled free, pushed against the client hard enough to knock him on the floor, and made a break for the door. Where he thought he could get to the prisoners could not imagine, but he was brought down by Fredrick's guards before he got more than 6 feet and dragged back to kneel at Fredrick's feet. Unsurprisingly the tearful apologies did not move Fredrick. The prisoners watched unsurprised as he was very thoroughly punished for the humiliating episode. When Fredrick turned to the Warden his words made the prisoners gasp "I want him gone tomorrow. I don't care how you do it. No one embarrasses me like this." One of the guards stepped forward clearly looking to score some points by administering a few brutal strokes with his baton but the Warden halted him quickly. "No! He's a registered toy that's the first step in the training process remember?" The guard froze at the reminder as the Warden continued "Unowned though - probably forever after this." He turned to Fredrick "I promise you Mr Fredrick he will be gone by tomorrow."


	10. The bait

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ezra plays bait

Officer Stanton looked up as the young man walked into the downtown Denver station and his lip curled. The man's long wavy blond hair was just below his shoulders and he was clearly wearing at least eyeliner. His clothes were nondescript, tight jeans shorts that came to just above his knees and a loose red top that bared one shoulder. He wasn't overwhelmingly sexual but just enough to discomfort the cop. However he had learned better than to express such feelings in this station. His "Can I help you?" was frosty but perfectly polite. The young man's smile was so honest and disarming he felt ashamed of himself "I believe I'm supposed to fill out some kind of toy registration form with the police when I arrive?" Stanton froze and thanked his lucky stars that he had been polite. If this was an unowned toy as certainly seemed the case from the registration comment and he had been anything other than polite he would never have worked in Law Enforcement again. "Are you referring to a toy registration and notification form?" The young man smiled "Yes I think that's what it is called." Stanton waved over the nearest veteran officer from the back. He was going to follow procedure as scrupulously as possible. "Officer O'Brian and I will escort you to the chief and he will help you fill out the registration form. Our chief likes to meet our guests in person and since his office is just next door we will take you directly there."

Ezra was amused to see that Chief Bromfield did not recognize him at all. He was antsy after several weeks without having access to Dom or his team so he decided to see how long he could draw it out. Keeping in mind that he would have to work with the Chief in the future he waited until the desk sergeant withdrew and then played the role of Charles Wilson, a young toy looking towards a protector for all it was worth. The chief was looking more and more uncomfortable and when he went to pickup the phone to call in one of his detectives to act as a chaperone Ezra finally took pity on him and forestalled him by dropping the california beach boy accent and returning to his familiar southern drawl. "You should ensure that whoever you involve has a high enough clearance to enable you to tell the whole story." The Chief jumped in surprise and then laughed heartily " Toretto you are a handful. I've already picked the perfect candidate. Let me get him." Ezra was stunned by the casual 'Toretto' and it must have showed on his face because the chief suddenly looked smug. "What no one called you by your new name before?" Ezra felt shy suddenly "No. My team would not since I have been Standish for too long and anyway I do not use the new name at work. I was not even aware the name change was general knowledge." Bromfield smiled "I pay attention to all the toys in my jurisdiction, particularly you. So before we go through with this. Are you sure you want to take this risk? Everything you guys showed me says these men you're dealing with are professionals and it is clear the toys appear to be unharmed or you could be damned sure I would not allow this, jurisdictional issues or not, but it is not a stable situation and I would not allow it at all if it were not for the other toys involved." Ezra nodded "I am certain."


	11. The Collector

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ezra finally meets the collector

Ezra lay still. His head felt uncharacteristically fuzzy and he could not immediately remember exactly where he was, which made him extremely cautious. He carefully pretended to be asleep and after a few minutes heard voices "Well this one is down for the count. How much of the sleeping gas did you use?" There was an amused chuckle "Oh a lot. There was a police detective protecting him so we had to be extra careful." "Why this one anyway? He doesn't match the profile especially with the extra risk." "Hair can be easily dyed but this one would probably be super elegant. He's supposed to be specially trained according to the chatter I heard." Ezra was intrigued by that. Who would know about toys but not know about Fredrick's reputation. No one who knew of Fredrick would fail to mention the trainer. More importantly they would never have taken a Fredrick's toy in the first place not without the consent of both the toy and Frederick himself. "So should we wake him up? Senator Waters would like to give him the standard speech and look him over." "Nah he doesn't like em groggy. Wait till he wakes up and then give him a few minutes. That will show him to best advantage. We should be able to get the best bonus ever on this one." Ezra could not believe it. Senator Waters was the Senate Majority Leader and on top of that a personal friend of the president. This was going to have to be done really cautiously. Ezra allowed himself to be lifted and carried for a while. It took a lot of concentration and skill to stay limp when people moved you, but fortunately it was something he had practised before. Finally he was deposited on what felt like a couch and the men left.

Ezra could hear quiet chatter in the background but nothing loud enough to pick up clear words. Eventually he carefully stirred and sat up, assessing the surroundings as rapidly as possible. He was in a large room with what appeared to be multiple bedrooms exiting off the sides. He had seen pictures of the four missing toys and was encouraged by the fact that they were all there and apparently unharmed. The men looked over as he sat up and one of them came over at his look of query. "I know it is scary at first but don't worry this is not some kind of a sick serial killer scenario." This was anything but reassuring. It meant that there was a reason they did not want him to become upset and make problems. Ezra also did not miss that there was no promise that he would not be hurt. True they were toys but he still thought the omission was significant. Ezra decided that he would not play dumb with the other toys. If nothing else they would not buy that from a Fredrick's toy. "What is going on here? I was just sitting in the park and someone grabbed me from behind and next thing I know I wake up here. I thought the detective shadowing me was supposed to prevent that kind of thing." The other toys exchanged glances then asked point blank "You don't have an owner?" Ezra forced himself to flush and deflected the question, but obviously, as though he was embarrassed "What you guys do? Then what am doing here with you. Who owns you all anyway? The guy who owns all this?" He glanced around being obvious in his admiration. "No!" One of the toys, Steve as Ezra recalled from the file photos, responded, but at warning glances from the others he modified his tone "Well we belonged to someone else before." Ezra was obvious with his curiosity "Well why don't you go back to them? Crawl out a window or something?" Steve's response was enlightening. "Lets just say the security around here punishes any such attempts to the point just before permanent damage. Trust me you don't want to walk that line around here. The guards in charge only seem concerned with serious physical damage and the owner doesn't care as long as we are kept in line and behave prettily." Suddenly another toy, Paul if Ezra's recollections were correct, chimed in with a smile "Besides we are four stories up." Ezra wandered over to the window. He asked the other question he wanted most to know. "So where am I anyway?" the landscape did not look familiar but the response made his blood run cold because he knew it meant he was alone "At Senator Waters vacation home in Texas"

Michael Waters was looking forward to meeting his new acquisition. His security chief had insisted that this one was an excellent opportunity to get a toy with professional training. His security did also have his eye on another professionally trained one but said they would prefer to wait for a situation to develop since his owner was not often absent so they had not wanted to give that acquisition a specific time frame. However this one had been unowned and hence essentially unprotected. In fact there was some debate whether it would actually count as doing the toy a favor. The door opened and Michael got his first look at the new toy and was favorably impressed. The young man was very attractive and all of his movements were graceful. Once the toy reached him he dropped to his knees and stayed there motionless, as still as a statue and positioned beautifully. Michael caught his breath. This one was perfect. He touched the toy’s shoulder gently to signal that he could stand and was impressed again with the elegance of his movements. The man had blonde hair rather than the black of the others and he had thought of dying it before he actually saw it but now - he felt it would be even better to have this one stand out. “Well boy how do you feel about being here, being owned by me?” He always asked the same question. It had flagged their trouble makers early on. The answer in this case though pleased him immensely. “I am flattered by the opportunity to have such an influential owner.” Waters smiled, with this one and the other trained toy he would have 6 total. Certainly he could consider that a complete set. One behind each chair would be perfect to ornament his intimate formal dining area. Besides which Representative Ramsey the leader of the House had managed to impress the President by having just one. He just knew the President would be even more impressed to see he had more, once they had figured out how to transfer the ownership of course, though how much of a problem could it be? Michael turned to his security chief who had escorted the new one in. Finally deciding to throw caution to the winds. "OK go get that other trained one. Setup a situation if you have to."


	12. Professionally trained

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The collector gets his new toy

Lloyd was missing Shea and Vanessa. He had wanted to go with them on the visit to Vanessa’s mother but she was not particularly happy with Shea in general and even less happy about Lloyd's existence in particular. Bringing Lloyd with them would just be viewed as provocation and Shea had not wanted to have a constant reminder of another reason for her to dislike him. Generally they did not visit her often but she had just won a large lottery prize and wanted to spoil her only daughter for a bit.

Normally in a situation like this Shea would have asked Dom or Ezra’s team to handle Lloyd’s security but since they were currently frantically trying to track Ezra they were not prepared to take on the responsibility. Shea had considered asking Fredrick for help but had felt concerned that it might be considered a "dereliction of duty" in some way, despite Lloyd’s assurance that it would be fine and had eventually hired private security. They seemed reasonably professional, though Lloyd was annoyed that they clearly considered it a easy ‘babysitting’ type job. They had only placed two guards. One inside the living room, who seemed to spend all his time watching TV, and the other supposedly walking around outside - though Lloyd was sure that he was only doing that when he thought he might be watched. Finally Lloyd had thrown up his hands in disgust and wandered upstairs to Shea’s room to stretch out on the bed there with his computer. He was working with Josiah on a profile of the collector and it was slow going.

He had lost himself in the work when suddenly he heard a thump from downstairs. He supposed that the idiot guard downstairs had dropped something. He ignored it but a few minutes later there was a knock on the door, he couldn't imagine what now. He opened the door to a tall intruder. Before he could react he was sprayed in the face with something that instantly made him groggy. He felt himself falling and then was caught before he could hit the floor. His last conscious thought was that they had never grabbed someone with connections before. He wondered if this would change the profile.


	13. The game changes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ezra takes a chance

Ezra felt his heart sink when he saw the guards bring in Lloyd. The implications of moving on Ezra were bad enough. Frederick was one of the few widely known members of the council. However he was ostensibly a reject so in theory he had no high profile connections. The idea that anyone, even this powerful a senator, thought they could get away with taking a toy clearly tagged as Frederick's was frightening. Either they were massively ignorant which meant they might think they could get away with injuring a toy if they were careful enough covering their tracks, or they were certifiable. Ezra did not like dealing with crazy people. Furthermore Lloyd was his friend and untrained in these kinds of dangerous situations. He could only hope Lloyd would follow his lead. The guards placed Lloyd gently down on the couch and left. Ezra was almost certain that all the rooms in the toy’s suite were bugged. Though he was equally certain from a few careful experiments that they did not have cameras. He placed himself squarely in Lloyd’s field of view before trying to wake him up. He was pretty certain that Lloyd would recognize him almost immediately so he needed to make sure his cover was not accidentally blown. “Mr Lowry. Please wake up.” Lloyd’s eyes fluttered open and then he blinked and sat up reaching out towards Ezra. Ezra chose his next words rapidly “I know that we've never met but I've heard a great deal about you from our mutual trainer.” Lloyd paused and looked confused but as Ezra had expected he figured it out pretty quickly. His next words allowed Ezra to relax “and you are.” “Charles McKenzie. I ahh… kind of failed out of the training program.” The one silver lining to all this was that it opened up a new strategy for dealing with the situation. Ezra's team would be searching for him frantically but that paled in comparison to the kind of resources Fredrick could and would bring to bear. Ezra was sure he could not even imagine the favors John Fredrick would willingly have called in on Lloyds behalf.

Lloyd watched Ezra crawl out the window with a great deal of trepidation. He understood Ezra’s argument that they could not get away with all the toys without getting caught and certainly Fredrick would have pulled out all the stops to notify everyone he knew. However this was still somewhat risky and if Ezra got caught they would be unlikely to get another chance since the Senator saw the two of them as the gems of his collection. Then there was the fact that this would look a lot like an escape attempt if they were seen. The toys had been careful to impress upon him the kind of punishment that could be expected for any trouble and he was pretty sure that Ezra’s pain threshold was about as low as his and he knew that the guards would not take that into account. Ezra was carrying a fluorescent yellow spray can that they had acquired by pretending that Lloyd enjoyed painting graffiti art and his plan was to write Fredrick’s logo on the roof. From listening to the guards they had discovered that Senator Waters was hosting the president in a week. They had hoped that Waters would want to show off his collection. That would be the simplest way to end all this. However apparently Waters was not that clueless about the fact that the toys were not listed as his because the guards had discussed with them all the requirement to keep quiet and out of the way. However Ezra was sure that a house where the president was going to be visiting in a week or so would be watched for several days before with all available technology and that Fredrick's logo being visible on the house would set off all kinds of flags. Lloyd crossed his fingers. Hopefully Ezra was right.


	14. Things start to happen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finally suspicion falls on the right man

Jack was bored. He hated routine scans. Nothing ever came up but he had never been able to convince his supervisor that they were a waste of time. He began the scan of the satellite footage and to his complete surprise there was an immediate alarm that an anomaly had been spotted. He pulled up the image and couldn't believe it. Someone had placed graffiti on the roof of the house they were scanning. He though about flagging it as evaluated no threat but then paused. The Secret Service were notoriously jumpy. He should get clearance from them first. He called down to their office and then waited for their on site agent. It only took a couple of minutes “Saw this graffiti on the roof of Water’s house. Figured you might want to check it out see if you could zoom in enough to id the kid that did it and bring them for questioning or something.” and he threw the image up on the screen. To his surprise the agent cursed viciously “Jesus Christ that’s Fredrick’s symbol moreover he has an APB out for a missing toy!”

Fredrick hung up the phone and contemplated what his next action should be. His general response would be to send his retrieval squad but the situation was somewhat touchy since the senator involved was a good friend of the president. He had contacts almost at that level and could not afford to alienate them. He needed some less violent alternative. He was fairly confident that this must involve the collector that team 7 was investigating, since he could not imagine it was just a coincidence that someone was grabbing toys and then one of his had been taken. This Senator fit the profile of someone who would have the bravery, ignorance and resources to touch one of his toys. He finally decided to have team 7 do at least a preliminary assessment. Certainly they would be able to at least say if Ezra was also there and he now considered Ezra one of his and wanted both of his toys back. He laughed suddenly, Lloyd was unlikely to be crawling about on roofs. That meant they both had to be there. It made him pause. Perhaps he would let the authorities handle the retrieval and prosecution since they had done this well so far. Once those who had dared to touch what was his were imprisoned. Well then they would be on his turf and then he would set an example which would ensure that no matter what, this would never happen again.

JD was exhausted. Hell the whole team was exhausted. It felt like weeks, even though Ezra had only been missing for five days. When Nathan had first reported the worrying news that the kidnappers were heading for the airport JD's heart had sunk. He had known that with all the equipment there the signal from Ezra's tiny tracker would be overwhelmed. The tracker was cleverly disguised to look like part of his new Fredrick's tattoo. There had also been a more standard tracker built into a bracelet but as they had feared the kidnappers had removed all of his jewelry. JD had hoped that there would be some obvious sign of Ezra being wheeled or carried onto a plane but there had been no such instances on the security monitors in the main terminal. Unfortunately there had been a veritable fleet of private jets present due to a massive conference ending. It was a much easier proposition to sneak a passenger on board one of those and moreover the private planes did not have videos showing their passengers embarking. He had checked the flight records of all the planes to see if any of the planes had been present at airports near the locations of the other kidnappings. Unfortunately he had found 10 matches from all across the country. Apparently whoever was doing this was careful. Hiding their pickups behind locations where there were various large conferences. He and the others had been busy researching the plane owners, passengers and even support staff for all those planes. Right now Chris was off arguing with Orrin Travis over whether team 7 could scout out all the targets since they were scattered across a good 8 states. Suddenly Chris' phone began to ring. JD went to get it since his office was closest "Larabee's office. Agent Dunne speaking" the message he got made his heart lift with joy "Thank you Mr Fredrick and you are right. Only Ez would write your logo on a roof" When the call was over JD began to laugh. It figured that Ezra would be that creative but he wondered how Travis would react to the fact that their chief suspect was not just a senator but a close personal friend of the president.


	15. Found

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ezra's team makes contact

JD sighed "Just a second Chris this needs to be tuned very carefully. The signal is broadcasting on a very narrow band." He was as excited as Chris but he didn't like being pressured. Buck started into Chris for giving him a hard time but JD ignored them both. He had almost got it ... and then there it was. He felt himself relax for the first time in what felt like ages and heard Chris sigh behind him and drop back into his chair with a smile. Well he didn't think he was hard to read, clearly he was right. Then Chris' face hardened "Shall we go get him?" To everyone's surprise Vin spoke against the idea. "Ez always likes to keep his covers. If we show up he's pretty much busted right?" After a bit of brainstorming the final plan was to have JD appear to be attempting some B&E and run away. The guards would have no choice but to notify the secret service of the attempt. Then the secret service could come in based on that and search the house.

Ezra was a light sleeper so the shouting coming from outside woke him up. He slipped out of his room and walked quietly over to the window. He saw a figure running through the backyard being pursued by the guards and knocked on the window to see if he could attract their attention and find out what was up. The runner paused briefly and glanced up and Ezra immediately recognized JD dressed in what could only be described as a classic burglar outfit. Ezra's mood lightened. His team had found him. The fact that they had not stormed the house guns blazing must mean they were being cautious and letting him take the lead on the next course of action. He did feel this cover was a good one to preserve but he was not going to let JD get shot over it. Moreover he had the feeling that the guards might well not let Waters know that anything had occurred as he would certainly inform the secret service, and the guards would realize that they would take a dim view of all this and insist on investigating. Ezra decided to force the issue and help JD at the same time and unlocked and opened the window. Immediately the alarm system went off, just as he had known it would since he had rearmed it after his little adventure on the roof. He leaned out of the window and shouted to the guards "What's going on?" he ignored their curt orders to get back inside. "Is it one of the owners, come to collect their toy?" The guards stopped to glare at him and he saw JD zip away to the safety of the street where he was sure there would be a car waiting. The guards walked back towards the house demanding he close the window but Ezra continued to call down comments. "Well Stephen always said his owner would find him. Are you sure it's not him? Toys are considered pretty valuable you know." He paused for effect "Or maybe it's some foreign power spying. Doesn't the president come here sometimes?" Abruptly he was grabbed and dragged back inside and the window slammed. He turned to face Waters and the other two guards.

Waters was clearly furious about being woken by the alarm siren and his first words to Ezra were not encouraging "Charles just what exactly do you mean by Steve's owner finding him. I am Steve's owner." Ezra had to pause and evaluate what his response would be. He was a Fredrick's toy so he was expected to be intelligent and think for himself and moreover be fully versed in all the protocols. A cowed response would not be consistent with that. However he really had no desire to test Waters' temper. Finally he decided to go with the response Charles Mckenzie would give if he really was who he pretended to be. At this stage he could afford suspicion that he was acting out of character least of all. "Well of course you could own me Sir, but you can't gain ownership of a toy by having someone else take him away from the owner. You have to challenge the owner personally." Waters glared at him and then turned to the guards. "Punish him for trying to escape." Ezra backed away. There was not much he could do to salvage the situation at this point except try and ensure that Waters would insist on notifying the secret service about the incident. "I did not try and escape! I was just curious about the intruder! It could be an owner, or a burglar, but it could be a terrorist or something." The guards advanced and Ezra dashed for his room but was headed off. He appealed to Waters again "Please, it's not fair. I did nothing untoward." Waters dismissed his pleas with a wave of the hand and left the suite. Ezra sighed and allowed the guards to grab him. He had a feeling this would be extremely unpleasant but he knew it would be worse if he resisted.

Ezra got a bad feeling when the guards stripped him and tied his hands above his head but when they brought out the whip he realized he was in serious trouble. He had not truly understood before when the toys had warned him that these guards were not following the rules and now it was too late. He decided not to be stoic about it in the hope that it would satisfy the guards, but all too soon it was just a matter of screaming in response to the pain. He had never had a very high threshold. At some point he passed out and they revived him with a bucket of icy water. It seemed to go on forever but ultimately it did end. Ezra felt wrung out and he was carefully trying not to think about the blood he could feel oozing from the cuts where the guards had been really vicious. They slapped some bandages on his back and dumped him in his room. Ezra willed himself to sleep. If he knew his team there would be agents in this house tomorrow and he had to be coherent enough to get this over with.


	16. The Secret Service

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The toys are rescued

Agent Matthews was new. He had only been in the secret service for five months and now here he was in charge of an investigation. It sounded like a precautionary check more than a real case but it was still a start. The one thing making him nervous was that he had temporarily been assigned a new partner, one of the most senior agents. There had been some very large need to know only meetings last night, just after the call came in from Senator Waters about an incident at his house. Matthews imagined that such a high profile Senator required an immediate response especially since the President was scheduled to visit some time in the next few weeks. As he parked in front of the house he rehearsed what he was going to say to the Senator. However they were shown in by his security who indicated the Senator was currently in a meeting with his aides and would appreciate a quick resolution. Matthews promised he would do his best. Security was initially unfriendly as they wandered around the property checking all the outbuildings and then the lower floors of the house, sweeping for bugs and ensuring nothing looked out of place. However they soon relaxed at Matthews incessant questions and cheerful attitude. Matthews confided in the most friendly security guy that this was his first operation and that he needed to make a good impression and so they were amused when he insisted on checking the second floor also just to be thorough. The third floor was sealed off by a hefty security door and Matthews was just agreeing that there was no need to check there since it was so carefully sealed and was unused except for the Senator when there was a loud bang coming from the upstairs rooms. At that point Matthews had no choice but to insist on checking the rooms. The security guards exchanged glances and then admitted they had not been entirely truthful. Senator Waters had guests. A couple of escorts he had brought home last night. Matthews sympathized but certainly with the incident last night they absolutely had to be investigated. Security was not happy but Matthews had immediately called in the second he heard the noise and realized there was a discrepancy. A more experienced agent might have looked first but he was going by the book. After a brief consultation with his boss who assured him he was doing the right thing and absolutely had to investigate they all went upstairs. The guards had wanted to go talk to the Senator but his new partner had all but drawn his gun insisting that they be taken to investigate right now and the guards finally seemed resigned. Matthews demanded the second door to the guest suite be opened. He supposed it was a reasonable security precaution given the situation to lock the escorts in. The door opened and Matthews found himself staring at six very startled men. One of them he immediately recognized from the important memo sent just last week on a very high profile kidnapped toy. He immediately turned and disarmed the nearest security guard and saw his partner had cold cocked the other. Then he turned back to the room. "Lloyd Lowry?" the man grinned and nodded in response. Matthews smiled "We will make sure you get back home"

Ezra finally relaxed. He had been terrified for a moment there when he had overheard talking at the door below but there had been no bang from the heavy security door opening. The one positive development from the punishment yesterday had been seeing the house layout as they dragged him downstairs to the basement. He had picked up a chair and thrown it at a wall as hard as he could and been gratified to then hear the lower door open and finally the door to the suite. Now he could just let things play out. He watched quietly as the secret service agents called it in and setup a defensive perimeter. The younger one was guarding the door while the senior agent went downstairs after having cuffed the two guards and stuffed them in one of the bedrooms. As the agent was leaving Ezra called out to him "There are two more guards and whoever is with the senator" no one would find his cooperation astonishing after the punishment last night.

Lloyd was wary until the police poured into the room. Federal agents were all very well but you could trust that cops would never let anything happen to toys in their care. He saw two of the other toys, Steve and Paul relax too and Ezra actually sagged and then stretched out on the couch next to him, careful to let only his chest touch anything. Lloyd had carefully memorized the faces of the two guards who had dragged Ezra off for punishment. He did not think Ezra realized that Fredrick would now consider Ezra one of his, but he did, and he was going to report those two for abusing Ezra. He knew they would be thoroughly taken care of. Lloyd had wanted to get a paramedic for Ezra but he had pleaded to be allowed to wait for Nathan and Lloyd had eventually acquiesced. Finally they were all packed into police cars and taken down to the station. Lloyd could well imagine the police wanted them all as secure as possible. Given their status as Fredrick's toys Lloyd was not surprised when the two of them were ushered into the captains office. He immediately called Fredrick and explained to him the situation with the two guards. Fredrick promised his people were already on their way to take him home and they would ensure the situation with the guards was "addressed appropriately". He also told Lloyd that Ezra's team was there and probably trying to see Ezra. Lloyd handed off the phone to the captain so Fredrick could explain the situation. He doubted if the president himself would be allowed near either of them right now without Fredrick's permission.

Dom walked in with team 7 and Ezra flew into his arms. The police chief scowled as they kissed "I don't know I approve of you loaning your toy out to the feds. They don't have the best reputation and I don't like seeing a toy hurt." Ezra turned in Dom's arms and scowled at the chief and Dom got very still and quiet. "Hurt how badly? and by who?" Ezra touched his arm clearly trying to calm him and Dom turned to him "Who!" Ezra was looking stubborn so Lloyd intervened. "I pointed them out to the officers. They've been segregated into separate cells and they will be handed over to the gentle care of Fredrick's men when they come to collect me and Ezra." Dom smiled maliciously at that. Vin still looked murderous "Could we pay them a visit before Fredrick's men come." The police chief looked approving at that. "It could be arranged. Though you'd be doing them a favor if you did anything fatal so ... I wouldn't" Vin grinned and headed out the door, the chief assigned one of the officers to show him the way. After a beat Josiah and to Lloyd's surprise Nathan turned and followed after Vin. Lloyd looked at Buck in surprise. He smiled "Sometimes it's more effective if they think it's over" Lloyd smiled too, he felt sure the guards would pay in spades for what they had done. Dom shooed them all out and when he let them back in Ezra was redressed in one of his shirts and wearing not just anklet and cuffs but his collar as well. Dom looked angrier than ever however and immediately sent Buck off to get Nathan with a whispered description of Ezra's injuries. Nathan was back within minutes and had Buck fetching his medical bag after which they were closeted for a good 45 minutes before Ezra appeared again looking mutinous but much stronger. Lloyd tried pumping Nathan for information but he waved him off "I'll go downstairs and kill those two if I have to talk about what they did right now and I will not do that." Just then one of the officers announced the arrival of Fredrick's people. It was time to go.

John Fredrick found himself pacing. He was not worried. One of his most competent retrievers was in charge and had even called to say they were on their way but he still felt the need to see his toys for himself. He had busied himself working his way through to the president. He was still on hold waiting to talk to the chief of staff and it had been an hour now. He was considering threatening to yank Bry who was the House leader's new toy out of sheer frustration, as well as a bit of vengeance since Representative Gaines who had purchased him was also a friend of Michael Waters. Fredrick suspected that a bit of boasting was at least one of the precipitating factors in this whole fiasco. Furthermore he had called a council meeting for after his talk with Ezra and Lloyd. He wanted to revisit their policies on theft/kidnapping. This whole thing could have been avoided if the council had come down hard when the first toy was taken. Finally he got a buzz from the Warden that his guests had arrived and naturally his call to the chief of staff went through at the same time.

Lloyd walked in to find Fredrick on the phone. He imagined it was an important call so he simply slipped in quietly and knelt at Fredrick's feet. He relaxed as Fredrick quietly stroked his hair. He was happy to see that Dom sat on the desk with Ezra cradled on his lap close enough for Fredrick to touch. Lloyd was not surprised to see Fredrick put the phone on speaker and start running his hand gently over Ezra. Lloyd noticed that Chris had perked up and his grin was pure evil when he heard the voice on the phone. Whoever Frederick had on the phone was still apologizing for the fact that he had been unavailable and assuring Fredrick that he had been in meetings "intended to completely address this issue" for the last few hours. Just then Ezra flinched as Fredrick's hand was travelling lightly down his back. Fredrick scowled and with a quick glance at Dom for permission gently removed the shirt Ezra was wearing. Lloyd gasped when he saw Ezra's back. There were several careful stitched cuts crisscrossing Ezra's back and even more carefully taped bandages. Lloyd heard Chris curse and the rest of the team were equally graphic in their description the ancestry of the guards who had done this. As for Fredrick Lloyd saw him completely loose his temper and it was frightening. "Mr Jeffries I am sitting here with one of MY toys who has been beaten and abused to the point that there are stitched cuts in his back. NO ONE had any permission to take possession of him and even if they had, his treatment would be cause for the council to remove him from whoever owned him and at MINIMUM put that owner in the hospital for a very long time. Now either you quietly and quickly ensure that Mr Waters gets convicted or I will take care of the problem myself. Which will it be?" Jeffries response was frazzled "There is no need to issue threats Mr Fredrick. However you know we cannot guarantee a conviction. We can ensure they all stay in jail until the trial is over, but more than that is not possible." Fredrick's response was curt "He gets convicted or I take care of him." Then he hung up.

Ezra was tired and sore and feeling less than happy about having been dragged to see Fredrick to receive what he admitted to himself was a deserved if unwelcome dressing down. Hearing Fredrick summarily dismiss the white house chief of staff finally snapped his control. "Mr Fredrick, Sir if you could administer whatever punishment you feel is my due in a timely manner I would certainly appreciate it." Fredrick glanced over at him and suddenly Ezra found his face completely opaque. "You wish me to punish you now?" Ezra smiled wryly "I would not use the term 'wish' but yes. I want to go home." Fredrick's voice was cool as he turned to Chris "And you Mr Larabee. What do you have to say to that proposal?" Chris was clearly incensed "If you try and punish Ezra over this case now or later I don't care your connections I will find a way to make you pay. He damn well did not do anything wrong." Ezra looked at him in honest surprise "But ... It was partially because of me that Lloyd was brought into this. I did not anticipate that a strong performance on my part would result in an attempt to get a real Fredrick's toy. Lloyd could have been hurt. I couldn't figure out how to contact you and had to resort to a blatant display to attract secret service attention. Anything could have gone wrong given their familiarity with the Senator, they could have dismissed it out of hand, they .." "Enough!" Dom's voice cut through Ezra's recitation. "No one is touching you and certainly not today." Ezra was surprised by the hostility in Dom's gaze at Fredrick " As for you Mr Fredrick you had no right to make Ezra feel that he has done anything deserving punishment." To Ezra's surprise Fredrick started laughing "Mr Toretto I was about to say the same to you" Abruptly he looked sad "Apparently we need to work on building up Ezra's confidence. Ezra I wanted mostly to check how badly you were hurt and congratulate you on a job well done. I am not sure why you do not see yourself as a 'real' Fredrick's toy. How could you think that you are less mine than any of my other toys? Do you think I put that tattoo on you or gave you my signature collar lightly? Regardless of the length of training time involved or our little deception with ownership, you are one of mine. If you were unable to perform to my satisfaction we would have simply made sure that the information that you had been through my training program was well gossiped about and that would have been enough for your purposes. When and if Dom wishes we will have you tattooed with my exclusive property notation. I'm sure Dom will feel better having himself designated as your permanent owner." Ezra gaped at him. Fredrick smiled "Go home Ezra Standish you managed magnificently and we are all immensely proud of you." Ezra turned to Dom his smile so bright it practically lit up the room. "I always wondered if you could have improved upon my humble self but with such a clear endorsement I would venture to say my abilities should be satisfactory." Dom laughed and drew him into a hug. "I didn't need any stamp of approval Sunny I always knew you were something extra special."


	17. A Discovery

Roman did not know how he had been roped into bodyguarding Ezra again. He liked Ezra and enjoyed spending time with him when he was not responsible for being his escort, but he found it exhausting to escort him since he did not have either Dom's intimidating size or Brian's known LEO status and therefore often found himself spending all his time fending off interested parties. If Ezra would just settle on one look then people would be able to tell that he was Dom's but no Ezra just had to look different every time. He was still grumbling to himself when he drove up to Brian's house and knocked on the door for Ezra. Mia opened the door and smiled at him "Great now Jack and I can get going." Then she turned and called for Ezra. Ezra sauntered in and Roman was flabbergasted to see that he was wearing what was clearly a Fredrick's collar. In fact he was so stunned he said the first thing which came to mind "Wow, guess no one can call you bargain basement anymore huh?" In retrospect it was about the worst thing he could have possibly said in front of Mia. She looked at him in horror and then slammed the door in his face. Roman debated what to do. If Mia attributed that charming little sentiment to him, at best Dom would beat him into unconsciousness, he had no desire to find out what worst would be. However the truth that he had only heard the comments but not reported them to Dom was still going to be hard to explain. He was still trying to figure out what to do when door opened again and Ezra ushered him in with a sharp "Imbecile!" that Roman chose to ignore. Mia was still glaring at him but Ezra waved them both into the living room.

Ezra sighed when Mia refused to sit next to Roman. "Leave off Mia. You know him better than that. Roman has never been anything but supportive and he would certainly never say things behind anyone's back, since he is clearly unable to keep quiet about anything no matter how ill advised it is to share the information." Mia looked startled and then to Roman's relief giggled. Then she turned to Roman and her voice was stern "Clearly you have heard vicious things said about Ray and not reported them to Brian or Dom. Why?" Ezra interjected immediately "It was at my request. I did not feel that it was necessary to promote the possibility of a serious altercation and furthermore some of the perpetrators are Dominic's friends. I can hardly fault them for being protective on his behalf. I am no shrinking violet to be hurt by a few snide remarks." Mia looked at Roman and he looked away "They called him cheap, a slut, a fake knockoff who wasn't good enough for Dom. I made them stop the worst of it by pointing out Dom's likely reaction but I couldn't get it stopped entirely since initially I had been unsure about him and they all knew it." Mia looked at Ezra and her voice was gentle "Don't pretend they didn't hurt you Ray. I know you better than that and it would be worse if they are friends of Dom's. Do you think you are doing him any favors by allowing him to associate with someone so disloyal as to attempt to lower the status of his toy?" Ezra seemed struck by the last point but finally shook his head. "Things are rarely simple. Dominic's friends always made sure that only like minded persons" then with a glance at Roman "or at least those they believed to be so were within earshot. In that they were not being disloyal at least, simply expressing an opinion. In fairness to them you have to see our courtship from their perspective. I came out of nowhere and on the face of it our relationship was a confusing string of negatives. You initially did not like me, then I apparently absconded. Our contract is terminated for unknown reasons. It does not help the situation that when they look up my bodyguards they see a group of federal agents. Federal law enforcement has a very poor record in their dealings with Dominic. Any friend would be alarmed by those combination of factors. Besides which you must admit I was not previously formally trained nor was I paid for, so in a literal sense ..." Mia cut him off "Ezra Standish don't you dare defend them. They had no right to say such things ever." Suddenly she smiled "Do you think any of these arguments will cut any ice with Dom?" Ezra looked away his voice was quiet "No" He looked at her pleadingly "Please Mia let it go. No harm was done to Dominic and certainly they will stop now with this Fredrick's collar." Mia looked uncomfortable "Ray you make good points and I know you're just putting Dom first but ..." she turned and glared at Roman suddenly "This is all your fault! you never should have agreed to keep quiet in the first place!" Roman held up his hands defensively "Hey Ray was very convincing" Mia was not placated "Now if I tell Dom he will be angry with Ray, which seems completely unfair. Why should he be punished because someone else was horrible to him?" Ezra immediately interjected "Therefore there is no point, especially since the situation has corrected itself." Mia was uncomfortable "It feels like lying to Dom and I hate doing that. Besides being bad at it." Ezra laughed suddenly "You really are bad at it." he grimaced "Fine tell Dominic but please leave Roman out of it. I would not want him to have to pay a price for acquiescing to my wishes." Mia was amenable to that and picked up her phone. Now she would have to find the right words to tell Dom.

Dom was enjoying himself. He always enjoyed beating Brian and that last race had been hard fought. He looked around for Ezra as he got out of his car and suppressed a twinge of worry when he did not see him at the finish line. Where was Roman? He was supposed to have brought Ezra over from Mia and Brian's house by now. His phone rang and it was Mia. The second she said his name he knew something was wrong. "What is it? Are you OK? Is Sunny OK? What's going on?" He relaxed when he heard Ezra's laughter in the background. Mia sounded annoyed and resigned "I really am bad at this. Oh shutup Ray! Look the thing is .. Ray just admitted to me that some of your friends have been .. well mean." Dom laughed at that "Mia the entire racing community is technically criminals and most of us have at least one stain on our record as well, you can't expect manners from streetracers" Mia's voice sharpened in indignation "I damn well can expect them not to call your husband a cheap slut!" Dom couldn't believe it "One of my friends said that!" Suddenly Ezra's voice was on the phone "There have been no comments of that sort since the wedding. Furthermore given the way I generally dress around the racing community one can hardly fault their speculation that I was perhaps particularly promiscuous." Dom was annoyed "Ezra are you telling me someone verbally attacked you, my contracted toy, and you failed to tell me?" Dom heard the hesitation in Ezra's voice "Attack would be a strong term for what was essentially a spate of juvenile name calling." Dom cut to the chase "Who?" There was a long pause and finally Ezra's voice was subdued "I will not answer that." Dom felt his anger flare "You will or I will make you!" Abruptly Mia was on the phone "I will not allow you to punish Ezra for trying to protect you. He is the victim here. You want to know who it was ask your friends!" Then her voice softened "I know how much you hate not being able to protect him Dom but save your anger for the guilty parties. You know Ray loves and respects you but he doesn't want to be the one to hurt you by giving you the names of people you like and trust who have let you down. Don't do that to him." Dom took a deep breath "Well how do you suggest .." Ezra was again back on the phone "The biggest issue that gentlemen in question have is that I am not good enough for you. I now have the credentials to show that I am. While they may not be comfortable with our married status ..." That last comment was enough for Dom to know who at least one of them must be "Tego!" Ezra's pause was enough to let Dom know that his guess was correct. "Anyone else" Ezra sounded unhappy but as Dom anticipated now that the one he least wanted to say had been exposed he was willing to tell him the rest "Your new racing buddy Ted was the one who came up with the 'bargain basement toy' terminology. I suppose they decided on that since it was the least offensive appellation." Dom suddenly realized something "Or BB for short right? Jesus Sunny, Tego said it right in front of me. Well won't they be surprised when you turn up with a Fredrick's collar." Dom paused if Mia suddenly knew this then it could only mean one thing "Roman's there with you isn't he." Dom could tell from Ezra's silence that he couldn't think of an answer that wouldn't get Roman into trouble one way or another. "Either he broke his promise to show up and escort you. Or he's there and hasn't uttered a peep in all this time. Coming from Roman that means he knows all this." Dom felt sick "Unless Roman has also ..." "No! I swear Dom. He never said anything like that. He wanted to inform you but I made him promise not to enlighten you. There was no need ..." "There was every need! He had no right!" "Dom they are his friends too! It was not fair to put him in the position of having to choose between you and it would make him uncomfortable anyway to bear tales back to you." Dom growled "So he lets you get hurt because he didn't want to be a snitch." Ezra's silence was eloquent. "Hand the phone to Roman" Roman was apologetic "Dom I swear he said it didn't bother him. That it was just juvenile name calling. He never looked even the least bit upset. If I had any idea it was hurting him I would have stopped them and told you. I did get them to tone it down but I really did think he was telling the truth." Dom had to believe him "Next time Roman, just tell me. He can lie to you and with people who he can lie to he's damn good at it. As for my friends, something will have to be done about that."


	18. A  really big party

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dom throws a party to show Ezra off

Lloyd rang the doorbell and to his surprise it was opened by Josiah. He smiled at Lloyd "The others were busy racing and there are only so many people Dom trusts to answer his door so I volunteered." They could hear music blasting from the back. Vanessa asked the question Lloyd was wondering. "Won't the neighbours complain" Josiah laughed "Not likely Ez invited all the neighbors in range of the speakers." He waved them out back. Looking into the backyard Lloyd was stunned. There was a DMX course, a barbecue area, bounce houses for the kids, as well as an olympic size pool which Lloyd knew had not been there the last time he visited 6 months ago. Shea shook his head "I cannot believe Ezra put in a pool for the party" "It was Dom's idea actually" All three of them jumped and Shea snapped "Don't do that!" as he turned around to look at Ezra. Ezra laughed and then bowed to Shea "As you command" Lloyd smiled it was good to see Ezra happy and in high spirits again. He bowed in turn to Ezra and said "To what do we owe the honor of your presence?" Ezra actually giggled before turning to Shea. "Just wanted to alert you that the security is being handled by Fredrick at his request. So unless you explicitly give them an all clear anyone approaching too near Lloyd will be removed from his presence with extreme prejudice." Then Ezra smiled and indicated he needed to go mingle. Lloyd got Shea's permission to follow with him. He wanted to assure himself that Ezra really had recovered.

Dom smiled. The party was going well. There were several very competitive BMX races being run as well as an impromptu swimming competition and someone had created a spur of the moment chilli cookoff. Dom's friends were nothing if not competitive. Dom had determined to make this his biggest party ever, flying in many friends from Brazil and other locations, as well as inviting most of the local racers. He also had team 7 and team 8 from the ATF as well as Brian's coworkers and quite a few of the Denver police not to mention Neal and Peter's team from New York for a substantial law enforcement contingent. It made for a very interesting party. Dom had wanted both to celebrate Ezra's return and display his new status. So far the party was succeeding admirably. Dom glanced over at Ezra who was sitting with Mia and Brian talking animatedly. Sometimes he felt guilty that Ezra had not been able to start a relationship with him without the intermediate step of becoming a toy. At least this case would not have been possible without Ezra's status so perhaps he could view it as a mixed blessing at least instead of a purely negative addition to Ezra's life. He had to admit too that Ezra had reveled in the freedom to go over the top in designing his 'toy' outfits. Today Ezra was going all out. He was wearing coal black armani suit pants but he had paired them with a scarlet vest and nothing else. He was wearing startling contacts that exactly matched the vest and a jet black wig with a long mass of curls going to halfway down his back. He was also completely made up including lipstick again to match the vest. He looked both nothing like himself and absolutely breathtaking. Dom was sure no one would have anything negative to say after this little display, not least because his outfit very clearly displayed Fredrick's signature collar and cuffs.

Dom knew though that when he thought of Ezra being taunted by his friends he could only view Ezra's status as a negative. Despite Ezra's pleas Dom had not yet been able to forgive his friends. He had dropped a quiet word in Vin's ear after swearing him to secrecy. Ezra had been adamant that no other member of the team be told. So far the number of painful accidents that Tego had experienced was in the high teens but his behavior at the party has been beyond exemplary, almost convincing Dom that he deserved forgiveness. Tego had made several attempts to talk to him but Dom had walked away from him every time. Dom looked over to see Tego approaching Ezra. He watched carefully. If Tego dared do anything to make his toy even the least bit uncomfortable Dom would make him pay. Suddenly Ezra's whole posture changed to one of alarm. Dom cursed and started moving towards them but to his surprise Ezra waved Tego towards the house and then started slipping through the crowd clearing searching for someone or something. Dom decided to follow Tego and have a few words with him. To his surprise Tego had a word with Josiah before going upstairs towards the bedrooms. Dom caught up with him as he was looking uncomfortable standing in the study nook Ezra had installed just outside their room. "Just what the hell is going on?" Tego actually looked relieved to have Dom talking to him "Ray said to wait here. He's going to bring Lloyd." Dom was confused "Why is he bringing Lloyd" Tego looked serious. "Because I'm supposed to inject him with this" as he pulled out a syringe.


	19. Countermeasures

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A plan is made

When they finally convened it was Tego, Dom, Ezra, Lloyd, Shae, Brian, Chris and Nathan. More people than Ezra had really wanted but the smallest number he could get away with. He had tried to convince Chris to come without Nathan and Dom to talk to Brian later but had not been able to manage it. Ezra let Tego have the floor. He looked sheepish. "Well you all know I was not thrilled about Dom's marriage and I guess it got me all confused. At the time I said some things publicly about toys being well, my apologies Ezra, useless, a scourge on good men, well nothing good and the details are not important. In any case someone must have heard me because a week ago after Dom announced the party a man approached me and offered me a cool million dollars if I would take a risk and help 'get back at a toy who was involved in attempting to bring down a good man.' Well I made it clear I was not suicidal but he swore that it was nothing permanently harmful. That it would simply make the toy disoriented and sick for a few days. In fact he offered to inject himself with it right there. I watched him inject himself and then told him to come back in 3 days and we would see. When he did come back, well I knew it was not fatal and I agreed to try." Shae stepped forward at that but Dom waved to him to wait. Tego looked nervous but continued "However once he gave me Lloyd's name and I looked him up, there was no way I was doing anything to a Fredrick's toy fatal or not. So here we are."

Ezra took the floor then "Clearly someone is attempting to play games with Mr Waters trial. It is closed for obvious reasons and the judges have agreed to very special circumstances for the jury. Specifically they are all 'in the know' so to speak so they are chosen from law enforcement or, in an interesting twist, those who have served time in prison. No one wants people not already informed finding out about toys. We have been hoping that Lloyd's testimony would be enough to avoid me having to take the stand. That will blow a very useful cover." Tego gaped and Ezra remembered he did not know Ezra's actual identity. He nodded to Tego "Let's just say I have done undercover work for the feds and leave it at that. I will testify if it becomes necessary but I would prefer not and right now Mr Waters thinks I am, like the other toys, a petty criminal with no particular connections. This is not a normal trial and as such if Lloyd is sick this Friday when he is supposed to testify, they will simply skip his testimony. That might be fatal to the case since the rumor is that the owners of the other toys have been bribed into staying away. If that is in fact the case I will have to blow the cover completely since technically I would not count as kidnapped as I supposedly had no registered owner."

Shea stepped in then "So the question is do we inform the prosecutor of this plot" Lloyd interjected there "The prosecutor will inform the court who will contact the defense. I have no desire for Mr Waters to come up with a new plan we know nothing about." Everyone agreed to defer to his wishes since it was Lloyd at risk. Then Chris asked the real question "Do we tell Fredrick? There is a possibility that he will simply take action and kill Waters out of hand for this." Dom and Shea exchanged glances. They knew they both would be thrilled to have Waters dead but they were also aware that their sentiment was not shared by their toys. After a pause Shea spoke up "Before we decide we need to confirm that drug is not fatal" Nathan took the syringe. He had good enough contacts that he could get it tested in a few hours. Ezra spoke up "If it is not fatal we should contact John up front and let him know. If he finds out on his own he is likely to react badly" 

After much debate among the group it was decided that they would have Lloyd pretend to be affected by the drug. Simultaneously Ezra's Charles McKenzie identity would surface and they would see if they could keep Waters busy trying to ensure he would not testify. The Denver police chief had identified the mole in the station and so could make sure Waters was informed of 'Charles' presence. Team 7 would be in charge of protection and this time any attempt to hurt or kidnap would be swiftly and brutally terminated. Since Lloyd was to testify in two days everything had to be put in place swiftly so the meeting broke up as everyone began their various tasks.


	20. A nasty surprise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Trial

Waters relaxed into his chair with smile. He was currently under house arrest, though only due to a direct intervention from the president. The first few days had gone extremely well thanks to his careful payoff of the owners. The prosecutor's attempt to call the owners had simply resulted in a series of statements which boiled down to taking the fifth. He had initially attempted to convince the owners to lie for him but they had all maintained that too many friends were aware of details for a lie to do anything other than make them look weak. The prosecutor had similarly failed to get permission for any of the toys to testify so the only testimony so far had been from the secret service on their discovery of the toys. He already had Charles signed up as a defense witness. Unfortunately the police officer assigned to protect him had testified to being hit on the head but as expected he could not identify anyone. The next witness was due to be the other Fredrick's toy but his head of security had arranged for him to be out of commission so there should not be enough evidence to convict someone of his standing. Waters had to admit that when firm after firm had given various excuses about the speed of the trial and the unreasonableness of the judge he had been worried. Finally a lawyer at one firm had quietly pulled him aside and told him that some all powerful criminal council had made it clear that any private lawyer representing a client in a case like this would be killed. However in the end thanks to his carefully implemented plan everything would work out. He could not believe that his public defender had wanted him to plead guilty and apologize.

The trial had restarted and Waters sat back to enjoy it when to his surprise and horror Lloyd walked in looking just fine. How could his plans have failed? Lloyd smiled, took the stand and demolished him. Then unbelievably things got worse. His security head, who he had always thought of as incorruptible, took the stand as a surprise witness and testified that he had tried to pay someone to incapacitate Lloyd. His lawyer demanded an immediate recess and spent the whole time yelling at him. Finally he had enough and yelled back "I'll fire you!" his lawyer laughed and informed him that the public defenders had a random drawing to see who would be unfortunate enough to get the case. "This is impossible. I am a friend of the president of the United States and you are telling me I get you or nothing?" His lawyer glared at him "I told you to keep nothing from me and you hide that you attempted to attack a toy! Your best bet is to throw yourself on the mercy of the court. I am sure that your life in prison will be very unpleasant indeed given that you have now kidnapped and then assaulted one of Fredrick's toys. We might be able to plea bargain for at least solitary confinement." Waters could not believe it. He finally did fire his attorney only to be told good riddance and approached the judge for a continuance to find a new attorney. To his horror the judge refused and the trial continued with no representation. Immediately the next day the jury retired to deliberate. It did not take them long, after just four hours they came back with a guilty verdict. As he found himself bundled off to prison he finally realized what his lawyer had been telling him when he said that he did not realize the stakes here. Now it was too late.


	21. Epilogue: The Value of a Man

As Ezra walked into the Saloon with the rest of his team for their usual Friday night drink he felt himself relaxing. It had been a stressful week with Senator Waters trial ongoing and never knowing if he might be called to testify at the last minute. However the jury had retired to deliberate late this afternoon and so it was finally over. He wondered if either Dom or Brian would show up to join the team. Brian in particular had started joining them, occasionally bringing a friend or two but Dom's visits were more occasional. He usually only showed up at the end to take Ezra home. They had only been hanging out for half an hour however when Dom showed up and Ezra knew just from his expression that things at the trial had gone well. His first words were "Convicted on all counts. So it's finally over." Ezra had expected when he finally heard those words he would feel slightly relieved but his actual emotions surprised him. He found that he felt as if a great weight had been lifted. His next comment to Dom was surprising even to himself "I want to go see mother." However Dom's immediate and passionate "No!" was stunning. The complete silence at that response was deafening. He was not sure what was on his face but Dom immediately backpedalled a bit. "I mean.., Sunny I'm sorry but what she did, maybe later.." before trailing off. JD piped up at that point "Ezra you know how I feel about moms but ... at least take Dom with you." Ezra looked at Dom then who nodded quietly and then awkwardly changed the subject. Ezra was not sure how well this was going to go but he felt as though it was something he needed to do.

Dom watched as Maude greeted Ezra with a hug and a "Oh my baby boy." Ezra's smile was somewhat forced but he listened calmly to her chatter about which rich and handsome man was currently pursuing her. Dom on the other hand found himself getting more and more annoyed as Maude consistently ignored the elephant in the room. Ezra had wanted to see his mother to hope for some explanation or at least apology. There was nothing of that forthcoming. Dom finally exploded and told her he would never let her see Ezra again until she apologized. "You tried to sell him! Yet here you are pretending nothing is wrong. He deserves more than that Maude. When you are willing to accept what you did and say sorry then you can see him again, not before." Maude's response was vicious "You hardly have a argument that you are better than me Toretto. You own my son as if he were a piece of property. How are you really any different from those men who wanted to buy him except they valued him enough to actually pay." Dom was still reeling from this when Ezra stood up and walked out without a backward glance completely ignoring Maude's "Wait Ezra!" As they were walking back to the car Dom felt compelled to ask "You don't really think I'm anything like Waters do you? That I .." Ezra cut him off sharply "There is no comparison to be made Dominic. Think no more on it." Dom still hearing Maude's voice ringing in his head wished that could be true.

It took a whole week from the verdict but finally Waters was sentenced and Team 7 could finally close the book on the case. The FBI had wanted to retain some credit for bringing the case to the ATF's attention and to Chris' surprise Ezra had been amenable. He pointed that they should be rewarded for actually recognizing that they were out of their depth and not attempting to handle things themselves. After the reports were finally written up and submitted the team got together again for drinks at the Saloon. After a few drinks they all relaxed and finally discussed the case. Eventually Chris grinned and asked "So are you taking bets on just how long our ex-Senator will last in prison?" Chris' voice seemed to hold only curiosity but Ezra was not amused "I hardly think he deserves a fatal outcome given that he harmed no one. Certainly his actions towards Lloyd were reprehensible but ..." To the team's surprise it was Nathan who interrupted. "He harmed you Ezra and even if you can dismiss that as inconsequential we don't" then Nathan further stunned the team with a malicious smile "However no bets are necessary I made sure to have a discussion with John about the reality of punishment. Mr Walters will be around for a long, long time after all why should his torment end". Ezra's laugh was startled "Nathan I'm surprised at you. What about forgiveness?" Josiah responded "cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth." Ezra smiled, an honest smile then that lit up his whole face "Well gentlemen I do believe I shall have to put I higher price on myself in the future as you are all so adamant." Vin spoke for them all when he said "You do that Ez."


End file.
